Autorentext

Muhanad Seloom is an Assistant Professor in Critical Security Studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, Qatar. He is also a Researcher with the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, and Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Exeter.

Klappentext

This book examines the impact of applying the 'terrorist' label to a group's choice to resort to violence within an ethno-nationalist conflict.

Using the Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê (PKK) in Türkiye as a primary case study, the book interrogates the socio-political ramifications of the Turkish government's decision to label the PKK as a terrorist organisation. Drawing on longitudinal interviews, newly opened Turkish and Kurdish archives, media frame databases and casualty logs, it maps five decisive moments: the 1984 guerrilla launch; Abdullah Öcalan's 1999 arrest; the 2012 15 peace talks; Kobani's stand against ISIS in 2015 in a town in Syria; and the 2025 stand down. Furthermore, the study's empirical analysis and discussions reveals that the invocation of the label 'terrorist' against the PKK places the group's actors and sympathisers in a situation that made it harder for them to engage in peaceful means of resolving the conflict. Using four waves of interviews with Kurds in Türkiye and Syria spanning over a decade, the book offers dynamic insights into how attitudes toward the PKK and the "terrorist" label have shifted over time.

This book will be of interest to students and scholars of terrorism and political violence, ethnic conflict, critical security studies, and International Relations.

Inhalt

Introduction Chapter 1: Labels in Conflict Discourse Chapter 2: The Labelling-Securitisation Nexus Chapter 3: The PKK and Transnational Kurdish Politics in Türkiye, Iraq, Iran and Syria Chapter 4: The PKK: From Formation to Peace Negotiations Chapter 5: Securitising Kurdish Identity: How the "Terrorist" Label Shapes the PKK in Türkiye Chapter 6: Women's Participation in the PKK: From Guerrilla Beginnings to a Transnational Movement Chapter 7: Mediating The Terrorist Label: Turkish and International Coverage of the PKK (2011-2025) Chapter 8: Beyond the PKK: Transferability and Limits of the Terrorist Designation Chapter 9: From "Terrorist" Label to Conflict Transformation Conclusion: De-labelling, De-securitisation & Pathways Beyond the "Terrorist" Paradigm Appendix A: Full Discourse Analysis of Empirical Data Appendix B: Multi-Tier Source Validation and Bias Control